The existing and known methodology has heretofore heated water by the use of combustion heat from various combustible fuels and accumulated heat is delivered to the desired area by conveying and transferring heat with the water to effect a heating of the air within the designated area. When water is heated above 100.degree. C., the water is changed into a vapor. Accordingly, water has the capability of accumulating heat, but various problems occur due to the high vapor pressure and, as a result, water is not deemed to have excellent heat accumulating capabilities. Further, when air in a given area is to be cooled, and when water in a freezer unit is used as a cooling medium, air in the room is cooled by the cooled water. However, when water reaches the freezing point (0.degree. C.), freezing takes place in the pipes and water can no longer be circulated. Accordingly, since water may not be cooled below the freezing point, and since the ability of conveying the cooling medium is limited, much water is required for such systems. In addition, very high equipment costs are also required.
Water can be utilized only between the freezing point and the boiling point and without phase change, and is much limited in the cooling and heat accumulating aspects and is, therefore, not deemed suitable as a heat exchanging medium (cooling accumulating agent and heat accumulation agent).
Recently, in the advanced countries, cooling accumulation by freezing has been attempted. However, due to the shortage of cooling accumulating volume and cooling accumulating tanks, cooling accumulation by freezing is not suitable for cooling, and has been used only under the most extenuating circumstances.
When cooling and heating equipment is disposed within large and small-type buildings with separate heating systems, or in the case of heat pumps, dual pieces equipment is usually disposed with various associated facilities and this creates various expensive factors that must be taken into account, such as the life of the equipment, the expense of the equipment as well as the space occupied thereby and the cost of maintenance. Safety factors are also a consideration, such as the amount of pollution produced by the combustion of fuel, fires, explosions and leakage as well as the necessity of supplying and removing of waste as a result of combustion of the fuels.
Therefore, in the advanced countries, the study of methods of cooling and heating using electric power as a noncombustible heat source and particularly the study of methods of cooling and heat accumulating type cooling and heating systems using nighttime generated electric power have been attempted and developed. Due to the increased demand for electric power caused by the development of electric household devices as well as electrically operated devices within industry, use of nighttime generated electric power has become strongly desirable because it is at this time that excess and less expensive power is available. However, in order to use this power, it is necessary to accumulate either heat or coldness during the nighttime so that the accumulated energy can be utilized throughout the daylight hours without drawing significantly from the electrical power supply during the daylight hours.
Therefore, it is an object of the invention to provide a cooling and heat accumulating type electric cooling and heating system and a method for implementing the same to overcome the deficiencies of the known systems. The invention is designed to make possible cooling and heating as needed after accumulating nighttime energy into a solid cooling and heat accumulating material using nighttime generated electric power.
It is a further object of the invention to improve upon the cooling and heat accumulating effects by the use of solid cooling and heat accumulating materials.
It is a still further object of the invention to be able to either heat or cool a given area utilizing the same system and either heating or cooling the cooling and heat accumulation materials within a common chamber forming a part of a single system.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a hot water supply system without necessitating the use of separate heating equipment for heating the water.